Tuesday, June 25, 2013

NOAA Fisheries Service is seeking comments
on its proposal to make permanent the rules it implemented five years
ago to reduce the number of collisions between ships and North Atlantic
right whales.

Right whales are among the
most endangered species in the world, and are highly vulnerable to ship
collisions. The rules, part of NOAA’s long-standing efforts to recover
right whales, are currently scheduled to expire in December 2013. NOAA’s
proposal to make them permanent, which includes a 60-day public comment
period, was filed at the Federal Register today.

The
existing rules, which reduce an ocean-going vessel’s speed to 10 knots
or less during certain times and locations along the East Coast from
Maine to Florida, have reduced the number of whales struck by ships
since 2008, when the speed limits began. No right whale ship strike
deaths have occurred in Seasonal Management Areas since the rule went
into place. Modeling studies indicate the measures have reduced the
probability of fatal ship strikes of right whales by 80 to 90 percent.

Also,
NOAA’s revised estimates indicate that the restrictions cost the
shipping industry and other maritime communities about one-third of
original 2008 projections. NOAA scientists say that industry
participation and compliance is high, and that in most cases vessels
have incorporated speed restrictions into their standard operations and
voyage planning.

"Reducing ship speeds
in areas where there are endangered right whales works,” said NOAA
Fisheries’ acting administrator Sam Rauch. “It is a proven method to
reduce deaths and serious injury to these incredible creatures. Making
these protections permanent will make U.S. East Coast waters safer for
right whales, and will allow them to reach full maturity, which is
critical to their long-term survival.”

The
rule proposes to continue existing speed restrictions during migration
periods along three regions of the U.S. East Coast (Northeast,
Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast). These measures are implemented during the
time of year when right whales occur in each area. Speed restrictions
apply to vessels that are 65 feet in length or greater, except federal
agency vessels.

The proposed rule also
seeks public input on ways to measure the effectiveness of the existing
speed restrictions and whether they should be phased out in the future.

This
proposed rule is part of a more comprehensive approach to conserve
right whales, including consulting on operations of federal ships under
the Endangered Species Act, developing an expanded outreach and
education program, and modifying shipping routes in waters of
Massachusetts, Georgia and Florida. NOAA has also developed a dynamic
management program whereby vessel operators are asked to travel less
than 10 knots or avoid areas where whales occur in times and places not
covered by seasonal speed restriction zones. Scientists expect these
actions to significantly reduce the risks to right whales from ships.

The
North Atlantic right whale primarily occurs in coastal or shelf waters.
Its known range includes winter calving and nursery areas in coastal
waters off the southeastern United States, and summer feeding grounds in
New England waters and north to the Bay of Fundy and Scotian Shelf.

Historically
depleted by commercial whaling, the North Atlantic right whale suffers
injury and death from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
These events may continue to contribute to the species decline and
inability to recover. Biologists believe that there are approximately
450 right whales in the Northwest Atlantic population, and that the
number is growing steadily.

The
Endangered Species Act of 1973 requires recovery plans to serve as
guides to promote the conservation and recovery of listed species. In
2005, NOAA Fisheries released a revised North Atlantic Right Whale
Recovery Plan that provides an overall framework for promoting recovery
of the whale. Measures to reduce risks posed by entanglement in fishing
gear are contained in NOAA Fisheries’ Atlantic Large Whale Take
Reduction Plan.

Written comments on the proposed regulations filed today must be sent to NOAA Fisheries no later than August 6.

After
publishing a proposed rule, NOAA’s Fisheries Service considers the
public comments and new information that may have been provided.

You may submit public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov or by visiting the comment page on the Office of Protected Resources website at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/comment.htm.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service will also accept written comments mailed to:
Office of Protected Resources, NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East-West Highway,
Silver Spring, MD 20910; or faxed to 301-713-4060.

Of the 152 deaths associated with leisure activities, fishing is
followed by camping (15 deaths), boating (14 deaths), soccer (12 deaths)
and golf (8 deaths). The remaining 77 people were struck by lightning
while participating in a number of other leisure activities like
enjoying the beach, swimming, walking and running, riding recreational
vehicles, and picnicking or relaxing in their yard. Between 2006 and
2012, 82 percent of people killed by lightning were male.

“When people think of lightning deaths, they usually think of golf,”
Jensenius said. “While every outdoor activity is dangerous when a
thunderstorm is in the area, outdoor activities other than golf lead to
more lightning deaths. NOAA has made a concerted effort to raise
lightning awareness in the golf community since we began the campaign in
2001, and we believe our outreach has made a huge difference since
lightning-related deaths on golf courses have decreased by 75 percent.”

Jensenius said the large number of fishing, camping and boating
lightning deaths may occur because these activities require extra time
to get to a safe place. “People often wait far too long to head to
safety when a storm is approaching, and that puts them in a dangerous
and potentially deadly situation,” he said.

Prior to the lightning safety campaign, lightning killed an average
of 73 people each year in the United States. Since the National Weather
Service launched the campaign, the average has dropped to 37. Seven
people have died from lightning strikes so far this year.

The best way for people to protect themselves against lightning
injury or death is to monitor the weather and postpone or cancel outdoor
activities when thunderstorms are in the forecast. Lightning can strike
from 10 miles away, so if people can hear thunder, they are in danger
of being struck by lightning. The only safe places to be during a
thunderstorm are in a building with four walls and a roof or in a car. A
hut, cabana, tent, or other rain shelter will not protect a person from
being struck by lightning.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A report released
by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) makes a powerful
case that from an economic perspective, recreational fishing is just as
important as commercial fishing, despite a much lower overall impact on
the resource. According to the report, anglers landed just two percent
of the total saltwater landings compared to ninety-eight percent caught
by the commercial fishing industry.

This first-of-its-kind analysis - Comparing NOAA’s Recreational and Commercial Fishing Economic Data, May 2013
- provides an apples-to-apples comparison of recreational and
commercial marine fishing from an economic perspective using NOAA’s
National Marine Fisheries Services (NOAA Fisheries) 2011 economic data.
The report was produced for ASA by Southwick Associates. The full report
and executive summary are available on ASA’s website.

“It’s something we’ve suspected for some time, but NOAA’s own data
clearly shows that recreational saltwater fishing needs to be held in
the same regard as commercial fishing,” said ASA President and CEO Mike
Nussman. “The current federal saltwater fisheries management system has
historically focused the vast majority of its resources on the
commercial sector, when recreational fishing is found to have just as
significant an economic impact on jobs and the nation’s economy.”
Among the findings are:

Anglers landed just two percent of the total saltwater finfish
landings compared to ninety-eight percent caught by the commercial
fishing industry.

Saltwater landings by anglers contributed three times more to the
national gross domestic product (GDP, or value-added) than commercial
landings.

The recreational sector added $152.24 in value-added, or GDP, for one
pound of fish landed, compared to the commercial sector’s $1.57 for a
single pound of fish.

Within the jobs market, the recreational sector made up fifty-four
percent of all jobs, both recreational and commercial. This amounts to
455,000 recreational jobs compared to 381,000 on the commercial side.

For every 100,000 pounds landed there were 210 recreational fishing jobs but only 4.5 jobs in the commercial fishing industry.

Nussman further noted, “We’re not releasing this report in an effort
to demean commercial fishing. Commercial fishing is very important to
our nation’s economy! Our goal is to highlight the importance of
recreational fishing to the nation. As our coastal populations continue
to grow, along with saltwater recreational fishing, significant
improvements must be made to shape the nation’s federal fisheries system
in a way that recognizes and responds to the needs of the recreational
fishing community.”

The Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the primary law governing marine
fisheries management in the U.S., was originally passed in 1976 and has
been reauthorized several times since. While the MSA has made
significant strides to eliminate non-domestic fishing in U.S. waters and
end overfishing, many in the recreational fishing community have argued
that the law is written primarily to manage commercial fishing and does
not adequately acknowledge or respond to the needs of recreational
fishing.

“For decades federal management of recreational fishing has been like
trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” said Nussman. “Perhaps
the MSA was written to focus on the commercial sector because that’s
where 98 percent of the overall harvest is taken. But when you consider
that the economic impacts of the two sectors are similar, it makes a
strong case for revamping the MSA to better meet the needs of the
recreational fishing community.”

The MSA expires at the end of fiscal year 2013 (September 30, 2013),
though many expect that a full reauthorization will take a year or
longer to develop. On March 13, 2013, the House of Representatives
Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing focusing on the
MSA reauthorization, and more hearings are expected this year and
beyond.

Nussman concluded, “ASA and our partners in the recreational fishing
community look forward to working with Congress to develop reasonable
legislative solutions that will produce a federal fisheries management
system that finally works for, not against, recreational fishing.”

The American Sportfishing Association (ASA)
is the sportfishing industry’s trade association committed to
representing the interests of the entire sportfishing community. We give
the industry a unified voice, speaking out on behalf of sportfishing
and boating industries, state and federal natural resource agencies,
conservation organizations, angler advocacy groups and outdoor
journalists when emerging laws and policies could significantly affect
sportfishing business or sportfishing itself. ASA invests in long-term
ventures to ensure the industry will remain strong and prosperous, as
well as safeguard and promote the enduring social, economic and
conservation values of sportfishing in America. ASA also gives America's
60 million anglers a voice in policy decisions that affect their
ability to sustainably fish on our nation's waterways through KeepAmericaFishing™,
our angler advocacy campaign. America’s anglers generate over $48
billion in retail sales with a $115 billion impact on the nation’s
economy creating employment for more than 828,000 people.

The Upper Delaware has enjoyed some of the best Spring fly fishing in recent memory and now conditions have set up for a great Summer.

Some of the best fishing can take place in the early morning and then again in the evening often into the darkness when mayfly spinners take advantage of the cool evenings to begin the next generation of aquatic insects.

Our guide staff is ready to have you on the water for both of these peak fishing periods with our Summer Split Day Full Day Fishing Trip.

You'll be on the water at first light spending the first four or five hours of the day fishing the prime morning activity. Then after a mid day break you'll again connect with your guide for four to five hours of early evening into the nighttime action.

For this extra service we're keeping the price the same as our full day guided trips at just $425 for up to two anglers. Half day, regular Full Day and Magic Hour trips are also still available.